961 International Soil Tillage Research Organisation Conference Reducing Draft Requirements and Maintaining Crop Yields

Abstract: Deep tillage is often required to alleviate soil compaction, however subsoiling can be an expensive and time-consuming tillage event. If this tillage operation is conducted deeper than the compacted soil layer, energy is wasted. On the other hand, if this tillage operation is conducted shallower than the compacted soil layer, energy is again wasted and plant roots will also not be able to penetrate the compacted layer. Technologies are now available which allow tillage to be conducted at the specific depth of the compacted layer. Natural resources should be able to be conserved without sacrificing crop yields. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the concept of site-specific tillage in a field in Southern Alabama in the United States for three years to evaluate whether the concept of site-specific tillage (tilling just deep enough to eliminate the hardpan layer) would reduce tillage energy requirements and/or reduce crop yields. Average corn (Zea mays L.) yields over this three-year period showed that site-specific tillage produced yields equivalent to those produced by the uniform deep tillage treatment while requiring 25 % less tillage fuel